Obtaining accurate three-dimensional (3D) images of a target using a two-dimensional (2D) video camera subsystem integrated with a three-dimensional lidar (laser radar) subsystem is difficult unless the two subsystems are calibrated with one another. Calibration may refer to the registration of the two subsystems such that points on a surface of a target are accurately mapped to one another by each of the two subsystems (or substantially so within the measurement tolerances, etc., of each subsystem). In other words, accurate three-dimensional images require correspondence between measurements of the 3D coordinates obtained from the lidar subsystem with the respective pixel positions in the 2D video image.
What is needed is an improved system and method for calibrating the video subsystem with the lidar subsystem of a three-dimensional measurement system.